{ being part of the change, not disrupted by it }

Paula

Describe yourself in three words: Curious. Caring. Committed.
In four letters: ENTJ.

I was born and raised in beautiful Finland, filled with Sisu, and for over 30 years now, I’ve also got to call the beautiful city of Stockholm, Sweden, my home. I used to spend most of my awaken time at Aftonbladet, a Schibsted Media House company, where I was part of the small pioneering technical team to develop its first and sole digital CMS incl. multi platform publishing, enabling it to grow into Nordic’s largest, fastest and go-to online news media outlet. I was also part of the team pioneering its first premium subscription consumer products such as Viktklubb, largest Swedish digital health and weight loss community service, that was later licensed to seven international media houses. It’s both a very humbling and rewarding feeling, when people trust you with their personal health, life stories, and struggles, while helping them to achieve their goals.
I hold B.S. in Business Economics in International Marketing, and Computer and Systems Sciences, and while technically a backend engineer, my strength lies in understanding the full technology stack and entire product life cycle. As an early pioneer within mobile, video, digital publishing, digital health, consumer products and subscription services, they are also areas of my expertise. As database designer, my love for data and data privacy are at the core of everything I do. As technical project manager and deputy CTO, I was involved in both hiring and vendor negotiations, and also carried out many direct assignments by the company board of directors, gaining valuable experience in how large enterprises operate on a strategic level. In other words,

I am as comfortable in a developer room, as I am in a boardroom.

Today as digital product advisor, and through Pick My Brain!, I help companies define product/market fit and go-to-market strategies, and build better products that better serve customers in order to stand out and enable growth. My extensive investor network and knowledge in venture capital are invaluable when helping companies with investment readiness and fundraising. During the past several years I’ve spent a lot of time on planes across the fast growing European startup hubs bridging ecosystems, connecting talent, and advocating for female entrepreneurship. I continue to keep learning and give back to the community by mentoring startups at accelerator programs on product, marketing, and growth, and have been rated as one of the best startups mentors in Europe. Since 2009, when co-organizing the first ever Geek Girl Meetup in Stockholm, I have engaged inWomen in Tech initiatives to help change the gender ratio, and have been selected as Top 100 Women in Tech in Europe.

There are few things more exciting for me than building a product from day one and bring it to life and into the hands of users, why I also love to quote Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon: “It’s always Day One”. In other words,

Be Part Of The Change, Not Disrupted By It

As a reminder of the continuous evolution and rapid change we as individuals, and as a society, need to keep adapting to, I leave you with the image below of a young skater I caught in front of the Mannerheim statue in Helsinki, Finland. My dear Finland celebrates its 100 years of independence in 2017, as it simultaneously reflects its bloody and painful civil war in 1918, that marked the beginning of its independence.

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Hi, I’m Paula Marttila

Paula is Digital Product Advisor and Top 100 Women in Tech in Europe, focusing on product, go-to-market, and internationalization strategies. Her strength is working with all stages of a product’s life cycle.

Pick My Brain! is her fixed price service specifically tailored to early stage startups, gender wage gap adjusted for female founders and co-founders.

Rated as one of the best startup mentors in Europe, Paula has to date mentored over 150 companies on product, marketing, and growth at Seedcamp and Startup Wise Guys startup accelerators. For the past decade she has been actively involved with several women in tech and entrepreneurship initiatives.

Her deep corporate experience ranges from pioneering digital media products and premium subscription services, hiring, sales negotiations, to carrying out direct assignments by the company board of directors. She holds B.S. in Business Economics in International Marketing, and Computer and Systems Sciences.

Paula is Finn full of Sisu, calls Stockholm her home, occasionally spotted in Berlin and other European hot spots. Contact her for your product, go-to-market, and internationalization strategy. Learn more about her work, connect on LinkedIn, Twitter or just Email.